49° 



FARM, ORCHARD, DAIRY AND GARDEN. 



a streak of tar, early in the spring, and 

 occasionally adding a fresh coat. 



In Other Trees. — Cut off to the quick, 

 and apply a piece of sound bark from 

 any other tree, and bind it on with a 

 flannel roller. Cut off the canker, and a 

 new shoot will grow strong, but in a year 

 or two you will find it cankered. 



APPLE-TREE SUCKERS.— Many oth- 

 erwise good orchards are allowed to be- 

 come defaced, as well as seriously in- 

 jured, by allowing a profusion of suckers 

 to grow at the base of the trunks. At- 

 tempts are sometimes made to get rid of 

 them by cutting them off down to the 

 surface of the ground, and leaving con- 

 siderable portions below in the form of 

 short stumps. These sprout again, and 

 they soon become quite as bad as ever. 

 A better way is to wait until they are in 

 leaf, at which time they are loosened 

 more readily, and taking each separately 

 in the hands, place a thick boot upon it 

 near the tree, and they are quickly sepa- 

 rated. If done at that time they will not 

 be likely to sprout again. 



ARTICHOKE, Jerusalem. — Boussin- 

 gault says, in his " Rural Economy : " 

 There are few plants more hardy and so 

 little nice about soil as the Jerusalem ar- 

 tichoke ; it succeeds everywhere, with the 

 single condition that the soil be not wet. 

 The tubers are planted exactly as pota- 

 toes, and nearly at the same time; but 

 this is a process that is performed but 

 rarely, inasmuch as the cultivation of the 

 helianthus is incessant, being carried on 

 for years in the same place, and after 

 harvest, in spite of every disposition to 

 take up all the tubers, enough constantly 

 escape detection to stock the land for the 

 following year, so that the surface ap- 

 pears literally covered with the young 

 plants on the return of spring, and it is 

 necessary to thin them by hoeing. The 

 impossibility of taking away the whole of 

 the tubers, and their power of resisting 

 the hardest frosts of winter, is an obstacle 

 almost insurmountable to the introduc- 

 tion of this plant, as one element of a 

 regular rotation. Experience more and 

 more confirms the propriety of setting 

 aside a patch of land for the growth of 

 this productive and very valuable root. 

 Of all the various plants that engage the 

 husbandman, the Jerusalem artichoke is 

 that which produces the most at the 



least expense of manure and manual la- 

 bor. He then directs the reader's atten- 

 tion to an example where the artichoke 

 had been produced for thirty- three suc- 

 cessive years with success, while they had 

 received no care or manure for a long 

 time. Those who wish to try it must 

 plant it as early as the condition of the 

 soil will allow. The land after plowing is 

 marked out with furrows three feet apart, 

 and the small tubers are dropped about 

 eighteen inches apart, and covered three 

 inches deep. Go over the field in a 

 week or two with a light harrow to kill 

 weeds, and cultivate between the rows 

 until the plants get large enough to ren- 

 der it unnecessary. It grows very readily 

 in dry soil. Those who make trial of it 

 should take care that the plant does not 

 become established as a weed. 



ASPARAGUS, Culture of.— Sow the 

 se?d early in spring, one inch deep, and 

 three or four inches apart, in rows one 

 foot apart. When two years old they 

 may be transplanted into permanent beds, 

 the plants placed a foot apart in each di- 

 rection, and at least four inches beneath 

 the surface. 



To make it " giant," be particular to 

 select for the bed warm, rich soil. Trench 

 it at least eighteen inches deep, working 

 in six inches or more depth of well-rotted 

 manure. Every fall cover the bed with 

 manure, and in spring dig it in lightly,. 

 care being taken not to disturb the roots. 



AROMATIC, Pot and Sweet Herbs, 

 Culture of. — The generality of aromatic,, 

 pot and sweet herbs may be raised from 

 seed sown early in spring. As only a 

 small quantity of these are necessary for 

 family use, they may occupy a corner by 

 themselves. They thrive best in a mel- 

 low, free soil; and care should be 

 exercised to harvest them at the 

 proper time. The greater part of the 

 following named herbs are perennial, and 

 will multiply from the seed they drop, or 

 from parting from the roots. The offsets,, 

 roots, or young plants thus raised should 

 be planted at suitable distances from each 

 other. The beds should be kept free 

 from weeds ; and, as the herbs come into 

 flower, cut them on a dry day and spread 

 them in a shady place to dry for use. 

 The best method for preserving them is 

 to rub them through a sieve when thor- 



